


Little Pieces of Time - Life is Strange Season 2 Episode 1

by AjaxKnight



Series: Life is Strange Season 2 [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, F/F, Happy Ending, Season 2, Unofficial Sequel, pricefield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 11:22:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6903853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AjaxKnight/pseuds/AjaxKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After making the hardest choice in her life, Max Caulfield is a different person. It's been 6 months since she allowed Chloe to sacrifice herself for Arcadia Bay, and as hard as she may try, she's finding it ever so hard to live without her. Just as she decides to attempt to pick up the pieces of her life and try again, time calls out once more for its warrior to rescue it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sunset painted a pink masterpiece above the cold, gray graveyard. The gray clouds were far up in the sky, not blocking out the sunlight, yet helping the skyline look painted. It was almost perfect, serenity with the macabre. It was almost as if the universe was begging to be photographed. But that didn't really seem to matter, Max was in no mood to capture this moment. The April winds gently blew across her chest, sending small shivers down her spine. But she pressed on, unwilling to zip up her gray hoodie, for now.

This day was special. Today was exactly 6 months after Chloe saved the Arcadia Bay from the impending storm. 6 months since the hardest decision the young girl ever had to make, and probably would ever have to. Max was here just as she was every anniversary, with a bouquet of assorted blue flowers in her hands, standing in front of the large tombstone for her best friend that she shared with her father.

"Hey Chloe, hey William." Max said as she walked directly in front of the large piece of stone "sorry it's been so long since I was here. Blackwell makes it hard to get away sometimes. Homework is crazier than ever right now, and school drama never seems to cease. No matter how hard I try to just ignore it." She was trying to force a smile and keep the tone of her voice from dropping. Right now – on the inside anyway – she was completely in shreds. But she had to try to stay strong.

"William, I know that you and I have a lot of catching up to do, but can I talk to Chloe alone? For just a few minutes." Max joked and smiled to herself. After a few moments had passed, - enough time for William to give the two privacy – Max got down on her knees and sat on her feet, angling the bouquet right in front of Chloe's name. "Hey Chloe" Max whimpered out, still trying desperately hard to keep herself from crying. "Things are going good. I'm still passing all my classes, but I don't think I'll get any higher than a 3 with my GPA. I can't seem to catch a break and get anything higher than a B on anything anymore. It's just...become so hard to concentrate."

Max paused for a moment and smiled gently to herself. "Shut up, not all of us can be naturally smart like you, girl. I really am trying, it's just so hard to motivate myself..."

' _Come on Max. Keep it together. Chloe wouldn't want you to be bringing her down here. She would want you to be happy.'_

"Other than that, I can't say much has changed with school. Still no one around to replace Mr. Jefferson. So I don't know what is to become of my photography career...but I guess it's for the best. I don't think I've taken a single picture since October...it just hasn't felt right."

Max perked her head up a little "oh, and speaking of Jefferson, his trial finally ended. He-he's going to get the death sentence." Her shoulder involuntarily slumped back "I feel so guilty for being happy about that. I don't really like the idea of someone dying...but...I feel like he deserves it for all that he's done. Not just to me, but to everyone he tortured."

She picked up a flower from its paper-wrapped enclosure and began to pick away at the petals. Anything to try to distract her mind.

"How is Rachel anyway? I mean, I figure you two have been hanging out a lot more now. At least I hope so. Promise me that you'll never make her your first mate. That rank is mine for life. Hell, it's especially mine for death. So sorry Rach, you'll have to settle with second place this time."

_'I hope that she doesn't mind being second place. From the way Joyce talked about Chloe, she probably never ever came in first...'_

"I have something completely awful to tell you though Chloe. I...I did end up going ape with Warren. Wait! Wait a second! Don't get mad, please let me explain. Nothing happened. Literally. I had to have him drive me home less than half way through the first movie. He told me it was going to be a sci-fi fest, and the first movie happened to be Blade Runner. I just couldn't do it. He looked so confused the entire ride back to school, but once I told him why I couldn't stay, he understood. He had been asking me for so long to go with him, and I don't hate Warren, so I decided I would give it a chance. I do have to say I am glad that he didn't try anything though. I will never consider him anything more than an younger, dorky brother. Although, nothing close to how dorky you could be."

By this point, Max had gotten to the last petal on the flower and plucked it away. Staring at the pedals for a few seconds, he brain got a little poetic on her. ' _It's so crazy to think how fragile everything beautiful is. I guess Chloe was an excellent example of that.'_

After spending a few more seconds staring at the pedals, Max scooped them up and began to decorate the tombstone with them. She spent extra time spreading each of them out equally and all in the same direction. Just as she finished spreading them all out, a sudden gust of wind came and blew them all astray.

"Goddamn it! I can't even have a moment here with you without nature fucking with us. Something out there is always tearing us apart and-"

A single tear escaped the small brunette girls eye, which she wiped away quickly with her jacket sleeve. ' _Keep it together Caufield, you have to be strong. For her as well as yourself.'_ The wind was pressing against the slightly exposed skin. But she would not zip up her hoodie. She wanted Chloe to see the shirt she was wearing today.

"So, since you haven't said anything about my shirt, I'm going to have to guess you don't remember it. It's the 'No Fucks Given' shirt. Remember?" Her eyes were puffy and red, but she couldn't help but to laugh at the memory. "We had to convince my parents so hard that day to get it for me, making me promise never to wear it anywhere but at home. Another win for Arrr-cadia Bay's pirates." Max smiled and laughed slightly at her own joke. "I know that the last time I wore this it was the day that you lost William, but I thought that since you two were back together that it would be alright. You better count yourself lucky my mom never got rid of this thing. She hated it so much."

Her knees were beginning to feel a little sore from sitting on them for so long, so Max rearranged herself and sat crossed legged and slid her fingers into the grass surrounding her, gently balling her fists and letting the blades of grass intertwine with her fingers.

' _I wish I could actually hold hands with you again, instead of pretending the grass above your fucking grave was your fingers."_

"Joyce is finally starting to do better. She actually went back into the Two Whales yesterday. Oh my dog Chloe, you should've seen it. I swear half of the town was there to welcome her back. The entire police force was there with a huge sign that said 'Waffles Please'. Your mom almost broke down crying completely, but she just smiled and said 'I don't know if I have enough seats for everyone.' I swear though, she looks so much better now. You can still see the sadness in her eyes, but she's finally getting out and actually talking to people. But...I honestly have to stay away from her, still. Every time she looks at me she just seems to remember you and..."

Her fists were trembling as she clenched them so incredibly tight, ripping grass from the ground before tossing it aside and bringing her hands to her face. Small little sobs escaped her as she tried desperately to hide her tears. It wasn't working.

"When will this ever get any easier?" Her voice was just above a whisper. "Chloe..." Her eyes were stinging horribly now as she tried to force her tears to stay inside her eyes. "I can't fucking do this Chloe!"

Her voice grew louder as she removed her hands from her face. "I miss you so much. I can't fucking do this anymore. I need you." Every single word she uttered was dripping with pain, her words were completely unwavering however. "It's not fucking fair! You're a hero to everyone and they don't even know what you did. You don't even know how much-" Her voice was catching in her throat, as her brain tried so hard to keep her voice from coming out.

"You don't even know how much I love you. That I was in love with you, I was too scared to tell you. My heart hurts every fucking day that you're not here. I was willing to give up everything for you! But you don't even know it. You thought that I had left you...that Rachel abandoned you. That David hated you. It's not fair Chloe! Why did it have to be you!?"

The pain in her chest was becoming far too much to handle at this point. It was as if her heart was breaking all over again. She had learned to let go slightly in these past few months, but right now she felt as awful as she did 6 months ago. When she had to relive Chloe getting shot. Acting on it's own, her body leaned forward and buried her face into the grass below her as she cried softly. She thought back to every single great moment they had in that week. Words echoed in her head, from the pool, breaking into the principal's office, when Chloe dared Max to kiss her. It was almost as if she were reliving the nightmare all over again. It was something she dreamed almost every single night now.

"I would give anything to see you one more time. Anything." It was just at that very moment that Max lifted her head up to look at the headstone again. That's when she saw it. There, resting directly above Chloe's name, was a blue butterfly. _The_ blue butterfly.

She was completely frozen. ' _Is this even possible?'_

Her heart was fluttering in her chest as she raised her index finger out toward the insect, begging for it to land. After a few moments, the butterfly landed gently on her finger and slowly opened it's wings.

"C-Chloe? I-is that you?"

The butterfly began to flutter its wings softly, before fluttering it's way back to Chloe's name on the stone. Max had no words. She simply watched in awe as the bug walked its way down to the flowers before once again fluttering it's wings.

"You're welcome, Chloe." Max smiled. It was the first time in 6 months she smiled like that. Somewhere in her mind, she was sure that it was all just a coincidence. But the rest of her didn't care at all, right now, that was Chloe, and she was getting to spend time with her.

Finally.


	2. Chapter 2

Music boomed through the small speakers inside of Max Caufield's ears. Her forehead was gently pressed against the cold glass of the bus as she stared out the window and let the soothing melody of Melancholy Hill by the Gorillaz fill her ears and put her brain in a slight trance. As each yellow line passed her field of vision against the faded gray asphalt, she could swear that it was coinciding perfectly with the beat of the song. It may have been just her imagination, but that would not be the first thing today that very well could have been her imagination.

'Was that really Chloe? Is it really possible? Do I even care if it wasn't? It was just nice to see her again at all, even if it was just a butterfly.'

The bus came to a slow halt, causing Max to lift her head up from the road and onto the opening door of the bus. Here was her stop, her home away from home for this past year, Blackwell Academy.

Headphones quickly found themselves wrapped up and placed in the small brunette's pocket as she stood up an worked her way around the worn leather of the seats. As she walked her way to the front of the bus, Max couldn't help but to notice that she was the only passenger on this trip. It must've been something she just hadn't noticed as she came to sit earlier, but she had far more important things on her mind. Making her way through the metal doors of the bus, Max suddenly realized that the trip she had taken had gone on for far too long, as the sun was now in the furthest reaches of the sky, threatening to set any minute now. She could have probably figured this out without looking due to the extreme drop in temperature, bringing the outside air from a slightly chilly, to a slightly too cold.

'I guess I better hightail it back to my room, don't want to freeze my ass off out here. Even though that would be a truly interesting thing to see.'

The scenery of Blackwell was just beginning to spring itself back to life. Trees that were scarcely placed around the front of the school were just beginning to bring their green leaves back into existence, flowers were beginning to sprout back in the carefully groomed gardens decorating the front of the academy, and the grounds of the school were once again filled with a pleasant green. Max couldn't help but to feel relieved once the winter snow finally seemed to melt away; the cold, blankness of the snow was honestly starting to get to her, and could have been a contributing factor to how awful she had been feeling for the past few months. That and losing the one person that meant the most to her in the world, that too.

Without hesitating, Max began to hurriedly make her way up the stairs and toward the girls dorms to the right side of the school. The girl was still lost in thought. It was a rare occasion that the brunette girl ever walked around and wasn't completely lost in her own mind. No matter the situation however, it seemed that her mind was always attached to one thing and one thing only, Chloe. Especially since that fateful week last year.

Right now, her mind was wandering into the things that her and Chloe would be doing if she were still here. Thinking things like spending the last few months inside and keeping warm with blankets and really horrible sci-fi movies. Max would have been enjoying a delicious, foamy cup of hot chocolate right now, looking at her blue angel and listening to her go on about how crazy awesome the giant ants that sprayed fire were in the movie they were watching. They would have enjoyed just being with each other, laughing and growing with each other, finally getting time together without anything else in the entire world there to break them apart. Max was just beginning to imagine how wonderful that would have been when she was suddenly knocked straight to the ground.

It was her butt that first made contact with the pavement below, thankfully cushioning most of the fall, before the rest of her body rocked back and rested itself on the cold, rocky concrete.

'Thank god that it didn't freeze off. That would've been much more painful.'

Hesitating for a second, Max sat up and opened her eyes slowly, here face contorted slightly to try to deal with the pain that was growing from her rear end, to see Justin standing above her holding his hand out.

"Dude! Holy crap man, are you okay?"

Letting off a weak smile, Max took the skater's hand and let him help her stand, steadying herself before completely letting go.

"Yeah" Max said, gently rubbing the first point of contact. "What happened?"

Looking over at his friend sprawled out on the concrete, Justin laughed, "freaking Trevor. He was trying to show off a new trick he learned. I guess he's just an idiot and can't skate after all."

"I'm sorry Max" Trevor said as he slowly scooped himself off the cold sidewalk and shuffled to his feet. "I was checking to see if this 'Pro Camera' thing was on and I wasn't paying attention to where I was skating. You cool?"

"Yeah Trevor, I'm okay. As a camera hippy though, I am disappointed that you didn't think to turn it on before you started. That's like, lesson one." Max smiled to herself as she made a slightly snide remark.

"So" Justin said as he popped up Trevor's board and rested it on his side; "I saw you getting off the bus. Where did you just get back from? Not that I'm stalking you or anything."

'Should I really tell them the truth? I mean, it wouldn't hurt to say where I was. But, everyone here did just stop asking me if I was okay every single day.'

"I..." Max began, before inhaling sharply through her nose, letting her mind try to calm itself down enough to allow the words to press from her throat. "I just got done visiting Chloe."

"Oh shit." Trevor spoke before looking down at his feet sullenly.

"Today is the day that it happened huh?" Justin asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"6 months ago today, yeah." Max's words began to trail off at the end, letting her voice show off the sorrow building up inside slightly.

"I feel so bad about not visiting her more often. I think I'm gonna go over a little later. I need to drop off my board first." With that, Justin made a gesture over to his friend to follow him back to his room.

"No, don't!" Max interjected, holding her hand out toward the two, causing them both to look back at the brunette girl. "I think she'd probably love to see a board again. She is kind of a skater girl after all."

"Good point Max. I hope you're doing better, I know you've been taking this harder than anyone." Justin said as he pat Max's shoulder gently and reassuringly.

'The saddest part is, you'll never know why.'

"Yeah, thanks guys." her nerves were beginning to get the best of her, as she caught herself grabbing her elbow and holding her arm close to her body unconsciously. After hesitating a second to chew on the inside of her lip, Max decided that the cold air and the way this conversation was the perfect reason to retreat back into her room. "I better get going, don't want to freeze out here. That would just give you guy's another grave to visit." Max was trying to keep the mood light, even if it wasn't working whatsoever.

"Go inside and warm up dude, we'll catch you later." Trevor said with a smile as he ripped his board out from under Justin's arm and began to skate toward the bus stop.

Max simply gave a small nod and wave before treading back into her dorm, still slightly rubbing her butt from the fall.

'No one will ever know the sacrifice you made for them Chloe. They'll never be able to thank you for it, never know that you're a savior. But knowing you, you wouldn't want them to remember you like that, would you? You wouldn't ever want someone tarnishing your perfect punk persona, you big dork.'

The walk back to her dorm was a rather quiet one, as no one really seemed to be outside at this moment, the weather was just cold enough and the lighting just beginning to dim outside enough for everyone to retire back to their own rooms. It wasn't until Max opened the door at the top of the stairs that she even began to hear voices again, making the walk that she had from the front of the school to her dorm's almost sinister.

Once the doors opened however, the light chatter of the girls in her hall filled the void, giving Max something to distract herself from her mournful thoughts. She could immediately see to her right that Dana's door was wide open, with sounds of her and Juliet laughing loudly. It was almost a bittersweet sight to see.

'If I didn't love Dana and Juliet so much, this would probably make me upset. But they've been just so amazing to me that I can't even be jealous.'

A bit further down the hallway were Stella, Brooke, and Alyssa all standing around the bulletin board next to the bathrooms, looking at something on the wall with complete interest.

'Any other day and I would care what the three of them were looking at, but today, I really just can't seem to find it in me.'

Max pulled the keys to her dorm room out of her pocket and began to slide her key in when she heard a soft voice calling her name over her shoulder. It was not a voice that she felt could ever be mistaken, it was the soft and sweet voice of Kate Marsh.

Max spun around to face the girl and smiled a genuine smile at her friend. "Oh, hi Kate."

Walking a few steps across the hall, closing the distance between the two of them, Kate smiled back at Max. "How did the visit go? Are you doing okay?"

'Sweet, kind, lovable Kate. Always looking out for me.

"It went okay. I'm still finding it hard to come to terms with it though." Max leaned her back against the wall before resting her head on it. "I'm sure that sounds kind of pathetic though. It has been 6 months..."

"Max, the heart knows no time, only that it aches. I know that Chloe was your friend, maybe your heart is just really having a hard time dealing with all that happened between you two. It will get better Max, you can take it directly from me." Kate looked at Max with a larger smile before pulling the girl in for a hug.

'My dog Kate, you're a life saver. Even after all you've been through, you're still here for me and have such amazing words of wisdom. Dammit Max, why don't you tell her that?'

"Kate" Max said as she pulled away from the shorter girl "thank you so much. I know how hard everything has been on you lately, and the fact that you're still able to talk to me and make me feel better is really amazing. You always know exactly what to say, I really appreciate you."

"It's no problem, Max. You did the same for me when I was in pain. You seemed to be the only one who really cared about me, I could easily say the same things about you."

Max couldn't help but to smile widely, Kate had that kind of effect on her. She was like a walking pick me up, always so kind and so forgiving. Max was glad that she could had a friend like her, and that she was able to be standing here in front of her.

Her mind began to slightly wander back to that day back on the rooftop. She could still feel the crushing defeat as she watched her friend walk off the ledge in front of her. Not wanting to let that memory drive her further down into a stupor, she shook it off and instead tried to focus on the now.

"I'll have to catch up with you later Kate. I just..." Her brain was having a hard time finding the proper words to exclaim how she felt, without giving too deep of a look into her own mind.

"Say no more. When you're ready to come talk later, I'll be here okay? I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks. I'll see you later." Max smiled as she stepped into her room and locked the door behind her.

She would be lying to herself if she said that talking to Kate hadn't made her feel better. It may have only been the slightest amount, but it was an amount that was noticeable. Walking into her room, Max took a seat on her couch and gazed over at the mess it was perpetually in now. The once clean, organized area was now a place of little care. Books were strewn all over, as were empty food wrappers and crumbled up papers and tissues.

'Some day, I promise I will get back to being tidy. But until then, call me Max Slobfield.'

Her eyes wandered up toward her photo wall, trying desperately to not focus too hard on any of the pictures in the room; terrified of having her mind flooded with sadder memories, as well as the returning of her powers.

In this timeline, Max had never used her powers. She had never tried to alter the course of anything. In this timeline, everything was going smooth enough honestly, and the thoughts of using her powers were not something Max often ever even thought about. Never once during the passing months had she even attempted to see if they still worked. Part of it was the fact that ignorance is bliss, and the second part being that using her powers felt like a betrayal to Chloe. She had to die just to keep everyone else alive, and playing around with time again and summoning another humongous storm just felt disrespectful to her memory and sacrifice.

Just as Max was about to get sentimental and began to let her mind wander back to the best week of her life that never got to happen, there was a rather quiet knock on her door.

"Hey, Max. Open up. I need to talk to you for a second." A muffled, but clearly audible voice called from the other side of the door.

'Wowsers. Two people begging to talk to me in one day. I guess this is what it feels like to be famous.'

Walking over to her door and unlocking it, Max swung the door open slightly to see Victoria standing outside the door with both of her hands behind her back.

"Hey Victoria." Max greeted with a light smile.

"Yo hipster. Just wanted to make sure you weren't drowning in your own sweet sorrow. I know that you always get super bummed out on these days, so I decided to get you a little something." Extending her arm that was cleverly concealed behind her, Victoria handed over a small, salmon colored wrapped box with a bright green bow atop it.

Max couldn't help but grin.

'I'm so glad that Victoria and I are better friend's in this timeline. So much better than we were...in the timeline I left behind...'

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know, but I have no need for the shit, so you're stuck with it, Caufield. It also wasn't cheap so you better be grateful hippy."

Without anymore hesitation, as the suspense was getting to her nerves slightly; Max tore into the paper around the box and opened the flaps on the top. Her face visibly lit up once she saw what was inside.

"There has to be hundreds of dollars worth of film in here!"

"I still don't understand why you'd want to be stuck all retro and hipster when it's so fucking expensive to photograph with this shit. But you do seem to be able to take at least some good pictures with this, so whatever." Victoria said with a wink. Last October, Max would have been confused as to if the blonde girl was being cruel or not; but as time progressed, Max seemed to be able to tell the sarcastic charm that Victoria used on a daily bases. Which believe it or not, made the girl far more tolerable.

"Thank you so much. You really didn't have to do this."

"I know I didn't, I wanted to. Think of it as a way of saying 'thanks for not being a bitch and taking out your frustrations on me for the school year.' I expected you to return my bitchiness back at me, and then some for what Nathan did..." Victoria could no longer keep eye contact, her eyes were starting to sting and fill with tears.

As hard as she tried to, Max couldn't seem to hide her crestfallen frown. "None of that was your fault. I could never be mad at you from what your friend did. Whether I ever forgive him is a different story."

Victoria looked almost shaken by those words. "If I would have just paid closer attention to him, maybe I could have fixed all this. I was always so shitty to your friend too, maybe if I...if I..." Her lips were beginning to quiver as her voice was beginning to shake.

"Victoria!" Max spoke, stepping forward toward the girl, desperately trying to keep her from falling apart. "We already talked about this before, none of this is your fault. Nothing you could have done would have ever stopped that! You're not a bad person."

"...I have to go. Enjoy your present. Just don't use them all on your tacky fucking selfies." Victoria was now wiping tears away from her cheeks as she ran back into her room directly across the hall.

'Poor Victoria. I can't help but to think I should follow her and say something. But I'd rather not make things potentially worse, we're already on our way to being actual friends, especially with all of this film!'

Looking down at the box and picking up all of the packs of film, Max couldn't help but to smile.

'Maybe...maybe it's time I tried again. I'll never get any better if I don't try to pick up the pieces. After all...looking at all of this film is giving me an itchy trigger finger.'

Walking over to her desk, Max grabbed the shoe box resting directly to the left of her desk and brought it close to her chest. Just having the box was a small token of the girl she had lost.

Max slowly walked over to the couch and sat down, letting her fingers trace the sides of the worn cardboard. She could remember when she found this hidden under Chloe's bed while helping Joyce clean out her daughters room. It was filled with pictures of the two of them as kids. Memories mixed themselves in her mind, flashes of the sorrow with digging through all of her deceased lover's belongings, and the memories of making breakfast with her best friend and her father. It was bittersweet, kind of how Max felt today had been going today.

Flipping the box open slowly, the smell of old paper began to fill Max's nose, a smell that was instantly nostalgic. Polaroids were strewn out all over the box, in the middle of the box was the camera that Chloe had given Max last year, placed in there along with a few of Max's own photo's to help keep everything together.

'The last birthday gift I'll ever get from her...at least it's an amazing gift. I'll never forget it, never.'

Max picked up the small, instant camera and smiled a forlorn smile. She had never really taken the time to examine the camera fully. To see all the nicks and scratches on it, the places where the plastic was worn and smooth from usage. She had never taken the time to really, truly appreciate all of the memories that this camera was there to capture, All of the experiences it had endured, the things it had been through. In a small way, the camera felt like an extension herself, with all she had seen and experienced as well mimicking the life of the small, black camera. Just as Max was getting the nerve up to finally stick her new Polaroids inside and begin to try to pick up the pieces of her former life, glancing back inside the box, a worn photograph caught her eye. It must have been hiding directly under the camera in her hands, as she hadn't seen it before. Her hands began to shake as the picture encompassed her sight, as if it were the only thing in existence. Just before the young brunette, was the photo of her and Chloe as pirates. Back when they were happy, back when things were easy.

Back when Chloe was still alive.

Her eyes began to sting and burn with an absolution as tears began to force their way out, now with nothing at all being able to hold them back. All of the struggles to keep herself together today had melted away the instant the photograph made its way into her eyes.

'It's not fair...it's so fucking not fair...'

Her small quiet sobs were quickly evolving into loud weeps, causing her entire body to mourn. Fingers were curling themselves into fists; her chest was heaving in as she attempted to take in sharp, harsh breaths; muscles contorted in her back to cause her to lurch forward and completely collapse to the ground with a loud thud. At this very moment, her body was attempting to let out months of frustration, sorrow, pain, grief, and angst all at once. It was as liberating as it was imprisoning, as painful as it was comforting, as bitter as it was sweet.

Max was all but sure that right at this moment, her cries were loud and painful enough to be heard by her entire dormitory, but at this moment, she could give a shit. Her body thrashed around involuntarily as her lungs screamed out questions aimed at no one in particular, all broken apart by loud sobs. Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks to the floor below her, where they began to soak into the 'Keep Calm' rug strewn across her floor. Something inside of her hoped that people could hear her distress, that they too would feel some guilt for being alive, that knowledge would somehow seep into their minds on the sacrifice her blue haired angel had made for them. No matter how reckless that thought actually was.

Thoughts of Chloe were flooding the poor brunettes mind as she writhed in pain. Thoughts of Max promising to keep her safe, thoughts of Chloe telling her in her own ways that she was in love with Max too, thoughts of the last conversation that the two ever had where Chloe actually confirmed that she was.

After what felt like an eternity of wailing on the floor, Max finally unclenched her eyes and looked around her room. For a brief moment, everything in her room seemed to be completely normal. The sunset was beaming through her window, her computer was left on her email screen on her desk, the pictures on her wall were all still hanging as were the lantern lights strewn across it. Everything around her seemed to be completely and totally average, until she looked back behind her at the couch she had just fallen from. She expected to turn around and see copious amounts of photograph's spread around the floor. For the small black camera to be flopped down on the rug not far from where she had her breakdown. She expected the universe to work just the way it was supposed to, but she was wrong. Completely wrong.

The box of photos had nearly cascaded down on the floor, but yet, somehow completely frozen in mid-air. As if in mid free fall, laws of physics ceased to exist. Max would've questioned this, but something felt...familiar. As if she had felt this before.

"No...oh please...no..." Realization was beginning to wash over her slowly as she stood up from her spot on the floor. The air around her felt...stiff. Almost as if it weren't moving at all. Looking outside of her window, Max saw something she was greatly wishing she didn't see, something she was hoping internally for the entire short walk over to her window. Directly outside was a small, blue bird, completely frozen in mid-air.

"Is...is time really frozen again?" Her gaze fell slowly down to her hand, which was spread open, almost ready and determined to find out for itself. Fear and anxiety were bubbling inside of Max's stomach as her mind drifted toward testing her powers once again.

Her fingers twitched gently as her arm carefully raised itself to shoulder height. An all too familiar tingling sensation ran it's way up Max's arm as everything around her seemed to be traveling backwards. She watched as the shoe box made its way back to its previous home for half a year, and as the blue bird outside made it's way out of her sight.

Throwing her arm down, Max began to feel another familiar feeling, a throb in the back of her head. The moment that she lowered her arm, everything around her felt right again. She could hear the sounds of Dana and Juliet laughing all the way down the hall, could see clouds slowly moving their way across the sky. Just as the blue bird found it's way back in front of the window to her room, time went back to it's frozen, dead state.

"Shit." Was all Max had the heart to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Hey yo, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you didn't cry too hard! I can promise you that the next one wont make you cry for sure, it's going to be a little different though. But I have a lot of really cool things coming folks, so be sure to stay tuned! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.


	3. Chapter 3

It was weird to see everyone in suspended animation. People that were usually so full of life, moving around like normal, breathing, thinking individuals were frozen completely in place as time stood completely still.

_'Wowsers...The Day the Earth Stood Still...I never thought that this is what they meant. I wonder how long that time has been frozen? Did anyone hear...hear me earlier?'_

Max had to be a little crafty when she escaped her room. The laws of time travel seemed to be exactly the same as they were before, whatever she touched came through with her, but everything else was reset the moment time began to flow again; and when the flow of time stopped, everything was completely unable to be moved. It was almost as if once things froze, they were encased in the air, as if it were made of concrete. This was of no problem for the time master herself however. All Max had to do was set time to be moving once again to manipulate anything she saw fit. Raising her arm and rewinding back a few seconds was all the time she needed to open her door and step into the hallway, with time coming to a crashing stop as usual.

Acting almost on instinct, the first thing on her mind was to check on Kate; as the last time that time stood still, it was due to her forcing time to stop to save Kate from her own demise. Regardless of the situation, Max still felt something in the pit of her stomach telling her that Kate was in danger, and Max was more than willing to save her friend again. Not but a second after entering the hallway, her feet quickly carried her over to her room. The doorway was slightly ajar, and peeking through, Max could see the young girl sitting on the edge of her bed, playing her violin for her rabbit Alice. Relief instantly washed over the anxiety inside of her as Max let out a small sigh of relief.

_'Thank dog you're safe Kate. But...if that's not why time froze...why did it? What the fuck is going on?'_

Looking down to the end of the hallway, Max could see that Juliet was frozen in a mid sprint, running toward her room with Dana in quick tow behind her wielding a pillow as if it were an ax above her head. If she weren't jealous before, this would surely be the thing that sent her deep into jealousy territory. Being that the two of them seemed to be the only people out and occupying the halls, Max figured that the rest of the girls were all in their rooms.

_'So if no one in here is in danger...then what is happening? Why did my life suddenly become a really complicated scenario again? I guess you have literally all the time in the world to find out Max.'_

Max pressed her way to the doors at the end of the hallway. Getting closer to Juliet, Max felt a slightly uneasy feeling begin to coarse through her veins as she gazed upon her friend, now stuck in an endless suspension.

_'It's just...so weird. Shes like a statue...'_

She had to get away from her frozen friends before the feeling manifested itself into anxiety somehow. Reaching out both hands, Max slowly let the tingling sensation turn the clock backwards as she pushed the door open and made her way to the darkened stairwell. As she trekked downwards back into the cold April air, a burning feeling manifested in the back of her head that if she were to leave her dorm, that everything would become clearer somehow. That somewhere outside lay the answer. Maybe it was just from past experiences. Maybe it was that when time froze before it had to do with the roof of this very building. Maybe it was all just speculation, but it was the only thing she had to go on.

The pressing thought that this was somehow her doing was forefront in Max's brain. Even though she had never used her powers in this timeline, the concept of time doing anything that wasn't moving in a forward, perpetual motion felt like it was somehow related to her. It was a thought that seemed echo off of the walls, building strength inside of her as the reverb bounced back toward her as she descended the stairwell of her dorm building.

_'Is it even possible that this is a punishment for trying to fix things? Why would I ever get off the hook that easily? I'm probably being punished for ever messing with time at all. This is probably my own personal hell or something. But if this is my personal hell, it has a lot more it better try to throw at me. I eat things like this for breakfast with a side of Belgian waffles.'_

Almost immediately, the moment her foot seemed to hit the concrete outside the door, something felt...off. As if the air around her felt almost charged somehow, like something was surging through the air around her.

_'This is so weird...even weirder than it already was. It feels like everything is moving and not moving at the same time. What the hell is going on?'_

Looking around the grounds, everything looked completely normal. The grass was green and well maintained, the trees and bushes were just as they should be. Benches, walkways, brick, mortar, windows; everything looked as it should, yet, it all felt slightly off somehow. It was almost as if things were slightly blurry, almost as if the world was going out of focus.

_'Out of focus? Did the universe forget to turn its lens? What if time froze to show me this?'_

The only thing that Max could think to do, was to follow the blur. Every single fiber of her being was telling her that following whatever it was that caused time itself to freeze was a surefire way to end up six feet under in a casket being fed to hungry worms, but Max knew that she had to do this. She understood that it was her almost duty to try and fix anything and everything time related at this point. With great power and all that. So, Max pressed herself forward, following the path of the most resistance.

As she walked toward what she thought seemed like the source of all of this, everything around her seemed to not only get blurrier and blurrier; causing trees to look like green splotches almost, the ground below her to mush together into one brown mass, and the night sky above to smear the stars over the black canvas that was the universe; but as she pressed forward into the beast, objects seemed to...flicker. At one moment the blurry smudge would be in one place, then into the next, it would jump into a different position, returning to its original position.

_'The closer I get to Blackwell, the more things seem to be...fucking up completely. Is something happening at school?'_

Her pace quickened slightly as she came upon this realization, carrying the small girl faster toward the front of her academy. With each slightly accelerated step, everything seemed to go from its usual bright and colorful splotch of spastic blurs, to a more and more desaturated blur.

_'Is fucking reality breaking apart? I've never seen anything like this! It-its up to me to fix this. I have to somehow repair time...like Bill and Ted or something. Except you're both Bill and Ted, and you're better at music than they were.'_

Fear and dread began to creep on her as she neared the front of the school. As she stood adjacent to the entrance, Max could see that everything around her had become completely monochrome. Black, whites, and grays surrounded the girl as she looked in the direction of the only source of color, a bright red beam of light emanating out of the windows of a classroom on the right hand side of the school; which is the very thing that filled her with fear to begin with.

_'Oh no...please...don't let that be coming from Jefferson's old room. Please.'_

Her hands began to involuntarily shake ever so slightly as she walked toward the stairs at the front of the school as memories that had been long suppressed crept their way back into her mind. Memories of duct tape and needles. Max grabbed at the bracelets on her wrist and began to rub them, assuring herself that she was okay.

Things were no doubt more difficult to make out when they were in black and white. Lights that were once a bright orange were now a dull gray. The walkway beneath her feet was only slightly separated by the different shades of the same color beneath her as the grass itself took on the shade of death.

_'I thought I hated the color of Blackwell during the winter...but this...this is soul crushing.'_

But even thorough all of the creeping despair that was trying hard to seep its way into Max's very bones, she saw something that brought her a small since of peace and calm; standing out like a beacon of clarity in a murky world stood David Madsen.

There he was, just a few steps down the stairs, with a flashlight in his hand and determination in his eyes. After the death of his stepdaughter, David took things a lot differently than Joyce did. His life became about constant movement. Everyday he would come into work and be twice as diligent as he was yesterday, some considered him a hero, and others a villain. He would never let anyone know how destroyed he was deep down inside that he couldn't save Chloe, as he felt as if as a veteran, it was his duty to protect his family, a duty he felt he failed. Since then he has dedicated every single day to uncovering everything he could about her murder. It went without saying that without David; Rachel Amber's body would have never been found, Mark Jefferson would have never been caught, and Nathan Prescott would never have confessed to his part of their crimes.

_'He really is the real Everyday Hero. It's almost crazy to think about what David has done. He's shown just how strong he is and just how much he cares. I have to say, I'm proud of him.'_

With her hands still trembling from the fear of having to possibly confront something she promised herself that she would never have to see again, Max raised her hands up and began to rewind time while grabbing the front door to the school, letting time slip backwards just enough to giver her enough time to slip through the doors. As soon as time began its crawl back forward, Max pulled on the door, only to feel the piece of steel refuse to move.

Locked.

_'Of course it's locked dumbass, school has been out for hours. Well shit...how the hell am I gonna get inside?_

She took a step back and threw her head back in frustration.

_'I have to fix this. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Come on Max, time to break out that Nancy Drew side of me again.'_

Intuition kicked in as Max began to survey the school grounds slightly. The thought crept into her mind that there were other ways to get into the school, other entrances, possible windows, limited roof access...but those were locked too.

_'I'm more pirate than ninja, but there has to be someway inside. David...He has keys to the school...maybe I could get them off of him...okay Max, it's just like Samuel and Victoria. Just now it's to commit a break in instead of drop paint on a girl who told me to fuck my selfie. You can do this, just believe in...ugh...your selfie.'_

Once she had settled behind the billboard in the front of the school that her and Chloe had used to spy on Jefferson and Victoria before, Max raised her hand and allowed time to flow back as far as she could before the throbbing in her head caused her to momentarily black out. Wincing at the slight pain, Max opened her eyes and tried to study David as hard as possible, paying attention to every little detail. It took several rewinds to memorize the pattern; David would step outside the door with his flashlight in his right hand, then turn around, fumble to get his key's out of his pocket, place them in the door, lock it, and turn away before freezing in place down the front steps.

_'Okay...so not a lot to go from there...but maybe...maybe this doesn't need to be as complicated as I think it should be...'_

Raising her hand again and ignoring the thumping feeling already slightly prevalent in the back of her head, she allowed time to flow backwards again. Once time had slipped as far back far as it could, she dropped her hand and watched again as David walked outside the door and attempted to get his keys out from his pocket. It was right then that Max let her idea spring into action.

Stepping out from behind the sign, Max began to sprint in the opposite way of the school toward the bus stop at the end of the sidewalk, screaming as loud as she could. "Help me! Somebody! Please!"

' _There is no way that he is going to miss this. David is too much of a bad ass honestly.'_

Max stopped and turned around to see if her plan was working, gazing at David as he turned his head toward her. "Hey! You!" He shouted as he dropped his keys and ran toward the shadow figure standing just far enough out of his vision to be recognized. Trying to keep her voice as convincing as possible, Max pinched her leg as hard as she could before once again yelling "Please help!" as loud as her lungs would allow.

He approached faster than Max figured he would, sprinting as if his life depended on it – maybe even hers – just about reaching where Max was before time halted the man once more.

_'Holy fuck! He was so fast to get to me. I guess...I guess he feels the need to save everyone. I'm sorry I did that David, but time kinda needs me to save it again.'_

With the new keys in her hand and time rewound just enough to give her time to unlock the door and step inside, Max now had to deal with the one thing that she had slightly been dreading inside of her this entire time, actually trying to fix this.

With each and every single footstep the young photographer took toward the right wing of the hallway, her heart began to leap up in her chest. It was almost as if her heart were trying to force it's way into her throat and actually suffocate her. Part of her liked that idea actually.

_'Okay Max...why are you so scared? You've walked by this classroom a bazillion times since then, you've survived then, and you'll survive now. You're a time warrior Max, you've gone through more than anyone could ever go through. You can do fucking anything. Just gotta breathe.'_

Ever creeping forward toward the photography room, Max could see that everything around the room was flickering even more intensely. Objects in the hallway were moving back and forth between locations sporadically as reality was bending and breaking all around her. The air itself felt as if it were displacing and replacing itself by the second, electricity felt as if it were floating freely through every object around her as she rewound time to unlock and open Mr. Jefferson's door, entering the room for the first time in half of a year.

Heartbeats began to become deafening, her palms were completely drenched in sweat as every single molecule in her body shook and convulsed. To say that entering the room of the person who nearly murdered her, tortured her, bound her, killed her lover, one of her best friends, and countless other girls made her terrified would have been the understatement of the millennium. Cool azure irises were nearly completely covered by dilated pupil, as they scanned the room in its entirety. Chairs and desks in the room were completely untouched, left exactly as they were when she was a student of the class, but were now moving and shifting around the room as if they were tearing apart reality piece by piece; all of them, except one, Max's desk in the back of the classroom.

_'Why?'_ Was the only thought Max's terrified brain could think as her feet began to walk over to her assigned seat as slowly as she possibly could. Even now as she took every single step, her body screamed out in agony, begging her in every single way it could think to that this was a bad idea, the worst idea in the history of ideas. With a stomach on the verge of getting sick, knees that were threatening to give out at any second, arms that trembled intensely, and breath that could only be described as ragged, Max Caufield reached her hand out to her chair in the classroom and touched it with resolve. The very moment she did, everything in the entire room settled. Light came in through the windows as color returned to every single object in the room. The sudden burst of clarity and color felt almost vibrant to Max, as if she had been seeing things in a horrible darkness for so long, that everything around her felt like light. Just as the feeling of comfort began to wash over her, a singular voice ripped her straight out of her own mind and right back into her fear induced stupor. It was the voice of an older man, a voice that Max would never forget, no matter how hard she tried.

"...And Max? Come see me at the front of the class please. You and I have to talk about your entry to the Everyday Heroes Contest."

His voice.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:
> 
> Hey yo, welcome to chapter 3! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Pretty crazy shit eh? Not really feels-y this time! So dry eyes all around? Hella rad! I hope you're enjoying this so far, because this is about to get crazy. Strap yourself in lads, it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Don't forget to tune in next time! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.


	4. Chapter 4

This wasn't real. There was no way in any timeline or universe that this situation was a real one. It was as if the universe was serving up the biggest nightmare that young Max had ever had, right to her on a silver platter.

He was just...sitting there at his desk. Just...sitting. It was as if none of the experiences that Max knew had happened, ever did. Every single fiber of her being was instantly sent into shock.

_'This can't be real. This is NOT fucking real.'_

His eyes were scanning something in his hands that seemed to be taking his full attention as Max stood there, staring directly at him as the blood in her veins ran cold. Bones underneath her skin had turned into one solid piece of steel as she stood at the back of the classroom, unblinking toward the man that had caused her, and so many others, so much suffering.

_'Why? Why is this happening...how is he here?'_

It felt almost disgraceful how calm and collective he was being, like there wasn't a humongous storm of insanity and pure, unadulterated evil lurking beneath his false persona. Max's stomach felt like it was boiling, her nerves felt like they were being electrocuted, muscles felt as if they were on fire, thoughts became fuzzy and rapid fire, breaths were shallow and panicked; all in all, this was undoubtedly the most horrifying thing Max could ever imagine in her entire life. Yet, here she was.

Her feet were carrying the young girl as slowly as she could move toward the man, as her heart pounded furiously in her ears. Her mouth suddenly became dry as she drew near, previously trembling and profusely sweating hands were sent into maximum overdrive.

_'I take it back. This is hell.'_

Just as they began, her feet stopped her as soon as she stood inches away from his desk at the front of the classroom; and as soon as they did, his eyes looked up to meet hers. They were just as dark and evil as they were the last time she had seen them. There was nothing in the world that would ever make her forget the sinister force driving behind his eyes. They were like tiny balls of pure chaos and hate, with a dead stare behind them. It almost made her vomit to think she ever had a crush on this man.

"Why hello there Max" Mr. Jefferson began with the usual amount of pep in his voice. "Now, before I even begin, let me say I'm sorry to hassle you about this. I just know how important of an opportunity this is." Taking his hand and grabbing the frame around one of his glasses, Mr. Jefferson rearranged his glasses on his nose before continuing. "I just know that you're destined for greatness. I know you don't want to listen to some old man go on and on about things like this, so I'll just say that your photos have something truly...special to them. I really think you should reconsider."

His words felt almost strangely calculated. As if this Jefferson was somehow knew what she had experienced, but Max knew inside of her just how impossible that was. It was due to the fact that she was still standing here, in this timeline, alive. Her eyes were darting all over as she scanned the taller man in front of her. Something inside of her was begging for there to be something inconsistent about him, a third arm, six fingers, different hair, anything to convince her that this was all somehow a dream. Sadly, that sight never came.

Looking slightly concerned, Mr. Jefferson tilted his head and furrowed his brow into a worried expression. He could see Max's eyes darting around him almost in a panic. He pursed his lips together before speaking "Hey, you okay Max?"

All at once, Max snapped out of her fear coma she felt a flame inside of her catch wind and spread throughout her insides like wildfire. "Yeah..." She replied with a newfound sense of courage, "I'm just, having a bad day is all. I'm not gonna turn in my photo. I have too much on my mind."

Letting out a sigh, Mr. Jefferson leaned back in his chair and looked at the girl in front of his desk with disappointment in his eyes. "Look" he started with a bit of sympathy coating his words, as if he were even able to experience the emotion; "I know you said that earlier, but I just really want you to think about it today. Take more time to think it out." His hands placed themselves firmly on the flat wood in front of him as he stood up. "I know that your friend's death is doing a lot to you, and I understand, but you didn't do it on purpose Max. It's not your fault."

Immediately, Max could feel all emotions inside of her morph into white, hot anger. Her vision was already beginning to turn red as she spoke at him. With clenched teeth, Max spoke barely above a whisper "what did you just say?"

Taking a small breath, Jefferson continued, looking straight down at the wood grain of his desk."I'm just trying to say that anyone could have made that mistake. You..." the older man paused, taking a another breath before continuing "...didn't mean to give her that much. Medication is easy to overdose on, it's not your fault."

That was it. Right there. The words could not have been chosen more perfectly. Those words were exactly the words Max needed to hear to send her anger into a pure form of seething hatred. Flashes of everything that had happened on October 11th, 2013 hit all at once as if they had been fired from a shotgun, piercing and tearing through her. Suddenly, all of the courage and anger that she had felt while being strapped to the sick photographers chair flooded through her. Her fingers were formed into small, trembling little fists as her eyes burned a hole through the mans head; "did you just fucking say what I think you just said, Mark?" Without giving him enough time to respond, Max continued with tears forming on the corners of her eyes. "Did you just tell _me_ about overdose? _You?_ Ironic am I right?"

His expression hardened almost immediately. Pupils dilated as his breath caught in his throat "I-I don't know what you mean. What are you talking about Max?" It was clear by the tone in his voice that he was trying to keep the fear growing inside of him at bay.

"Yes you do. You know _exactly_ what the fuck I'm talking about." Each and every single word that came out sounded calculated and cold, as each syllable burrowed into Mark Jefferson as she spoke them. Lowering her voice as low as she could get it without being inaudible over the sounds of transitioning children in the hallways, Max leaned in and spoke with eyes that seemed to be burning with such intensity that the atmosphere in the room seemed to shift all together. "I know about the Dark Room, Mark."

His mouth fell slightly agape as he heard the words leave the young girl's mouth. That, that was it, right there, the moment he had spent his photography career trying to capture; the moment that innocence turned into corruption. His mind began to spiral down into his true self, finally letting out the voice that Max had only heard when she herself was strapped to the chair. "That's impossible...how the fuck do you know?"

"I know everything. Every single thing." Her voice was unwavering as she leaned in closer to the teacher, allowing the flame in her eyes to burn a hole right through his soul. "I know where Rachel is...I know what Nathan did. I know about Kate. I even know about Victoria..." Max couldn't help but to smile at herself at this moment, knowing that she was in complete control of the situation.

His face was becoming more and more flushed with anger as each and every single second passed. His hands balled into large fists as he leaned his face in further toward Max, letting his hot breath beat against her forehead. "Well..." he spoke with that cold, calculated, maniacal voice that he did so well to hide underneath his faux happy teacher voice. "I guess...you know what's going to happen next then...don't you Max?"

She couldn't help but smile. "I know exactly what's going to happen. You're going to fry." Max let her voice drop to a whisper as she leaned in, nearly touching the man's ears with her lips as she said "but best of all...I know how to beat you."

Spite was beginning to fill his mind as he heard her speak. It was undeniable that he knew he was cornered, but he was ready to bite as hard as he needed to try to evade capture. Regardless of what his instincts were screaming at him, the anger in his mind was clouding his judgment far too much to listen to it. Giving into the rage dominating every corner of his mind, with teeth clenched and eyes just as icy as the words he spoke, Jefferson asked back with a whisper, "and how would you do that, you dumb, fucking bitch?"

Max only smiled for a brief moment before she screamed as loud and as painful as she could. Turning her head sharply, Max slapped herself across the face as hard as her muscles would allow before throwing herself down, allowing herself to skid against the tiled floor of her photography classroom. Her head throbbed as she lie there on the cold, dirty floor as thoughts crossed through her brain of just how incredibly out of her own body she felt. Max Caufield from 2013 would have never, ever had the gall to do this. She only allowed herself a few split second of pride before she sat up weakly and let the tears that had been forming in her eyes squeeze out of her.

Just like she had planned, seconds later a large gathering of students from out in the hall came rushing in the door, and assumed exactly what Max hoped they would. There he was, Mr. Jefferson, standing at his desk with his hands balled into fists, shaking with anger. His face was beet red and his gaze was unblinking and piercing right in the young girls direction. He looked like a mad man, one that had succumbed to his anger, while she looked like a hurt little girl, sobbing helplessly on the floor with pain in her eyes.

It was almost too perfect.

"What the fuck?!" She heard a voice grunt, beaming with anger. A small group of students had begun to rush their way around her, all of them trying as hard as they could to see if Max were alright. Within seconds, Victoria Chase had pressed her way through the crowd of people to get to her. Kneeling down on both of her knees, Victoria took Max's neck in her hands and buried Max's face into her shoulder. "What happened?" she asked with a slight panic in her tone. "Max, it's okay. What happened?"

Taking in every single shitty memory that she could think of at this moment, Max looked up and met Victoria's eyes with her own, letting her emotions fuel how broken she wanted her words to feel. "He...He fucking hit me..." she spoke with small sobs breaking apart each word.

"You lying little whore!" Jefferson cried as he began to lunge his way back over toward her, which caused Max to actually flinch as the fear inside her quickly rose through her body. But before he could actually attempt to make his way over to where the crowd of students were, he felt his body rocket to the floor as well. Standing not but a foot away from him with clenched fists was Zachary, trying his hardest not to pounce on the teacher and continue to smash his face into a pulp.

_'This is exactly like the scene in Fight Club. I am Jack's vengeful fury.'_

"And just what is going on in here?" A voice said, breaking up the chatter from everyone around. Turning instinctively toward the sound, Max saw Principal Wells standing in the doorway with one of the most complicated facial expressions she had ever seen.

Without hesitation, Victoria looked toward her photography teacher and screamed with tears in her eyes "that fucking monster hit Max! He was going to do it again, but Zach knocked him down."

"He hit me because I know about the Prescott bunker underneath their farm." Max cried out through actual tears, as the memories of what had happened to her began to fully resurface. "I saw this horrible place with binders full of girls...I even saw where that _sick fuck_ buried Rachel Amber."

"Max" Victoria said, almost unable to physically believe what she was hearing. "What are you talking about?"

"He buried her...in the junkyard..."

"She is a dumb, lying cunt! Don't listen to a fucking word she's saying!" Jefferson screamed as he attempted to push his way around Zachary's arms.

It was right then that Max knew that Jefferson was through. Things began to blur around her slowly as her vision darkened entirely, words began to slowly fade out, as if she were moving further and further away from everyone, until nothing around her was audible, nor visible.

Instantly, vision snapped itself back into her eyes. Around her was the same, empty photography room from before. The only difference between when she had left and now was; things were stable, planted firmly in reality, color had returned to all objects, all of the slight blur had removed itself from existence, and the windows now no longer held any light in them.

"I...I did it. I fucking DID it!" Max yelled out at herself. Her heart was racing in her chest now, but it was an exciting feeling. It was one dripping with success and joy. It was the feeling of defeating something evil.

"I am fucking Wonder Woman!" Max screamed to the empty school before shuffling her way up to her feet. The blood coursing through her veins was making her feel invincible. She felt as if she could take on everything in the entire universe. That was until Max saw the fresh blood soaked all down the front of her shirt. Just as quickly as the feeling of invincibility came, it left.

_'There is so much blood. Holy fuck.'_

She had never bled this much before, as a steady stream of blood seemed to make it's way down the front of her shirt. Feeling her heart rate increase exponentially as panic drenched the happy feeling deep inside of her. Max slowly made her way down the hall and eventually out of the school, trying with every step not to quicken her heart rate.

She was almost thankful that it was night outside, almost. The early April winds were still attempting to chill their way down to her bones, making the fact that Max had to walk slowly to try and keep her blood inside her body excruciating. Her entire body was shivering by the time she stepped through the door to her dorm, thankful that no one was out while she trekked her way back to her room anywhere. It would have been extremely hard to convince anyone that she would be alright while she was covered in this much blood. Closing the door behind her and shedding her bloodied up shirt and pants, Max turned and looked at the disaster area that was her room.

_'If I can Tyler Durden Mark Jefferson, I can do anything.'_

Her delicate hands scooped up the black camera lying on the floor slowly, pointing the lens towards herself. She gazed at her own reflection for a brief moment before snapping a picture. The photo came out a little off center, with Max looking more stern than she intended to.

_'Gotta start somewhere. I guess this isn't like riding a bike. I hope Chloe would be proud of me. I guess I really am Mad Max now.'_

The next step of moving forward she decided, would be to clean her room entirely and let go of the past, let the happy memories fuel new ones instead of holding every new second up to how flawless the old ones were. The next step of recovery would be to allow her heart to heal by getting rid of all her old memories, and using this camera to make new ones.

_'But for now...just photography. You can do that some other day.'_ She thought to herself as she sat on the floor of her room and dug through the strewn out pictures decorating her floor. She smiled as she looked at a picture of herself and Chloe going to their first day of 6th grade together, looking at the grimace of Chloe with her arms folded and Max smiling, giving the peace sign.

_'Some other day.'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:
> 
> Hey yo, how are ya doing? Here is the most intense thing I have ever written. I struggled through this chapter, pretty harshly. It felt so good to finally have Max get some revenge, even if its a Jefferson from a different timeline. I hope you really enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please let me know! I live off your reviews, as they feed me as if it were nourishment. Sweet, sweet reviews. So be sure to tune in next time! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.


	5. Chapter 5

_'Oh my god why?'_

Her legs were starting to fall asleep beneath her, as was her butt. But no matter how hard she could try, there was no way she was going to get out of this chair. She was trapped here, against her will. Her breath slowed as she realized the situation she was in, telling herself to conserve energy, that she would need it to make it through this ordeal. It wouldn't be much longer now, it would all be over soon. Then Max could have sweet, sweet release.

_'Fucking math. Why do I have to be here? I promise, I will never need to know this. Ever. I can add and multiply, I'm more than prepared for being an adult.'_

It may have just been a side effect of being a time master, but Max couldn't help but to feel like she were slowly dying as each second passed. Desperation began to take over her body as it begged internally for something, anything at all to happen to break this monotony.

It was at that moment, Max felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

_'Oh merciful dog. Whoever you are, thank you for rescuing me from twenty years of boredom.'_

Max carefully sipped her phone out of her pocket and glanced down at the screen to see who it was that was texting her, to her surprise, it was Warren. Thankfully this would mean that the conversation may just last more than 2 or 3 texts before it took its natural course.

**Warren: Yo there To-the-Max. How are you doing today?**

**Max: As fine as someone can while they're being beaten to death with useless math stuff**

**Max: Why would anyone ever need this? Ever.** (-_- ; )

**Warren: Without math you wouldn't have a phone like you do, Maximum dork** ( T_T)\\(^_^ )

**Max: Who are you calling a Maximum dork? You're the one defending this crap. Also the one with a Schrodinger's Cat t-shirt. I rest my case, your honor.**

**Warren: You win again, Max. But math would be so much more interesting than this class right now. Woodshop is horrible** T^T

**Max: Without lamp's, there would be no light** ;)

**Warren: Did you just quote The Breakfast Club at me?** o_0

**Max: Seemed fitting, you're the one gushing about math. If you love it so much, marry it.**

**Warren: Maybe I will** (~_^)

Max couldn't help but to smile at herself, this is exactly why Warren and her were such good friends. She didn't have too many friends that she could quote John Hughes classics to and actually understand them. There was one other person she knew that could probably be right up there on Warren's level of dork, but something told her that ghosts probably had a hard time texting.

Max was just about to text Warren back when she heard a loud throat clearing sound at the front of the room.

"No phones out Max, back to your assignment please." the older teacher said at the front of the room

Without a sound, Max slid her phone back inside her pocket and looked back down at the paper set in front of her.

_'I wonder...if I stare long enough at this, will the answers just magically appear?'_

The time felt like it was dragging by, and Max knew deep down inside of her that there was no way that she was going to do this assignment right now. Her brain felt groggy and delayed, almost like what it feels like to try to run underwater. Still, she had to do something to look busy, so Max did the only thing she felt that would make any sense right now, she slid her journal toward her and opened it.

This was another thing that Max had decided would be beneficial to pick back up. There was only one entry in here since 2013 had passed, written on Christmas Eve. It was a memory Max knew if she read, would only make her feel worse, but try as she might to open it to any other page that wasn't that, of course with her luck, there it was, open right in front of her. Max didn't even have to read it to remember what it said.

**December 24** **th**

**I miss you, Chloe. All I really want for Christmas is one more day with you. Fuck everything else, I would do anything to see you one more time. I would trade all the gifts and festivities in the world for you. I miss you, I love you.**

_'Is someone cutting onions in here? Time to try to leave the past in the past. Wowsers, opening this thing is like traveling back in time without powers. Let's hope that from now on, things will be different.'_

Taking her pen in her hand, Max began to chronicle yesterday, trying to keep the same mood and feel as she had once before, but knowing her style was bound to change, even over the slightest amount of time.

**April 7** **th** **, 2014**

**New life, new entry. It's really weird that after some horrible time shit starts happening is the moment when I feel like I need to be keeping up with this better. Hopefully, I will never have to be the 12** **th** **Doctor ever again. When that happens, knowing my track record, I hope you won't miss me too much Mr. Journal.**

**Today was a horrible day though. One of the worst I think I've ever had. It started off pretty shitty with me being late for classes, but I honestly couldn't give any less of a hoot. After nearly dying of boredom in all my classes, I had to prepare myself for going and doing the one thing I do every single 7** **th** **of the month, visit my dead best friend. Wowsers, sounds like some horrible teenage drama movie with adults acting like teens with really bad lingo. But what am I talking about? I just used the word 'lingo'. Barf.**

**The strangest thing happened when I was there though. I saw that blue butterfly I saw that day that Chloe got shot. But this time...this time it was different. I think somehow Chloe WAS the butterfly! I can hear 'They're Coming to Take Me Away' playing already.**

**But after getting knocked to the ground by Trevor outside of school – who I honestly can barely see why I had a crush on him ever – I went back to my dorm and saw Kate again for a while. Sweet, wonderful Kate. Then Victoria showed up and gave me so much film that I don't know the next time I'll ever need any.**

**After all that, I decided that it was time to start using the camera that Chloe gave me again. Well, I guess she never gave it to me in this timeline, but whatever, ish mine now. But then I saw that classically old photo of Chloe and I as pirates. That was like a trip down depressed lane. As soon as I got done freaking out though, time had stopped completely, again. It's like the flow of time is an old box TV, and I'm a really powerful magnet. Which means if I get near it, everything is going to pretty much be fucked up.**

**After looking around, I found that everything around the school was ripping in and out of reality or something. It was like a previous timeline was trying to crash down into this one somehow. But when I made my way into the belly of the beast, it was chaotic in there. Everything felt electric in that room, it was almost as if it didn't exist somehow.**

**But the moment I touched my old desk, the worst thing fucking ever happened. I got sent back into the timeline where Chloe was in a wheelchair, and I had to talk to...HIM again. It's like Harry Potter in this book, we do not speak his name.**

**But, I totally fucking got him. I used the whole Fight Club trick and made it look like he beat the shit out of me. Well, maybe not that bad. But I did do something like that, then I told the principal about The Dark Room before I left. I can say without a doubt, that is exactly what I needed in my life. I beat him HIM. Fuck HIM. He knows who he is.**

**After I got back though, I had blood all over me. I guess that put my body through more than just the regular time travel. Hell, it did way more than the photo's ever did, and that was some crazy enough shit right there. So I had to make my way back – in the freezing cold winds – to my room to try and sleep it off. And sleep it off I did.**

_'Wow, so that is also not like riding a bike. It seems I'm not as funny as I used to be. I'm glad that I'm the only one who ever reads this, because if anyone else did, they'd be able to tell the difference in writing, and probably not in a good way. Well, since I still have like, forever to go in boring Boring Snooze Town here, I may as well start the next entry.'_

**April 8** **th**

**It was actually nice waking up this morning. It felt good to actually wake up and have a purpose again. I decided that I was going to do photography if it kills me. I hope to dog it doesn't though.**

**After showering and getting my 'battle armor' on and ready for the day, I made my way into the halls and saw Kate's door wide open. And I'm no vampire, so I didn't really need to be invited inside. She was sitting in the light and playing her violin and OMG. This must have been the reason that I decided to start bringing that camera around with me again. That was an amazing shot. Even Kate thought it was 'wonderfully charming'. So I would say it's got to be at least a 9/10 on the I can take pictures scale.**

**I finally saw Victoria in the hall and thanked her for her gift. She of course didn't accept my thanks, saying it was 'charity'. But I know Victoria, she's just trying to hide the fact that shes human underneath all that snark.**

**Then, unfortunately, classes started. I almost have nothing to say about classes, like at all. But there is one saving grace honestly. In one of my classes, I get to sit next to both Dana AND Juliet. So I get to hear them argue and talk to each other all class long. It really is weird to see how similar their friendship was to mine and Chloe's. Just without all the dork-y references.**

"Excuse me, can I help you sir?" Max heard from the front of the class that snapped her out of her journal and caused her eyes to look up toward the teacher.

"Uh, yeah! Show me where my seat is. Then please leave me alone for the rest of the day. Had to deal with a lot of shit."

Her eyes just darted over to the door once the guy had begun speaking, and it took Max's mind a few seconds to realize what it was she was looking at. It was almost as if she assumed she had seen it wrong. Like they were playing some kind of sick prank on her and Ashton Kutcher would spring out any second now with a camera. But once he finished his statement, Max knew her eyes and ears did not deceive her. Standing there in the doorway to her Pre-Cal course, was Nathan Prescott.

Instantly, Max's mind began to race back to the last time she had seen Nathan. A memory she was trying to avoid as hard as she could. The shot rang out through her ears again as her heart momentarily stopped beating.

Max stood up on her feet as quickly as she could and looked around the classroom, terrified. She had been regressing seeing his face for months now, and seeing him brought back the feelings of fear and despair she had felt as soon as she saw him.

Blue eyes scanned the sea of faces as they all stared back at her, which did nothing but add fuel to the fire that was the anxiety building inside of her. It felt as if they were all silently judging her as she stood there, being stabbed by the daggers that was their glances. There was only one thought that Max was allowing to race through her head as everything felt like it were moving in slow motion around her.

_'I have to get out of here. Right now.'_

Grabbing all of her things and shoving them haphazardly into her messenger bag, Max raced her body through the faces staring at her to the front of the room, and threw her body through the door before turning and running down the hall toward the front of the school.

She had no idea why, but something inside of her was telling her to go to the front of the school. As if there, she would have the answers to everything, like it were an oasis of peace to perfectly soothe her current frantic state of mind. Lockers were a blue and red blur as she sprinted away from the left wing of the school, seeing small posters and fliers whiz away from her line of sight. She felt as if she were running faster than she ever had in her whole life, almost so fast that she nearly couldn't stop herself as she entered the large square area that was the front of the school. Her eyes momentarily scanned everything around her trying to figure out exactly why she thought coming here would have been a smart idea. Her peripheral vision momentarily gazed over toward _the_ girls bathroom and sent her nerves into a frenzy. Her mind started to spin as her vision began to blur. Suddenly, her knees gave way and Max came collapsing to the ground.

Her arms caught her fall as she stayed there, panting and trying to get a hold on her thoughts. It was as if her mind was a machine gun, shooting her thoughts out at her as quickly as it possibly could. Sounds of overlapping thoughts and feelings became deafening to her as she lowered onto her elbows and placed her head to the floor, clenching her eyes tightly, trying desperately to find some kind of peace. Just when Max was starting to believe that her mind was going to drive her to insanity, and that this would be the last sane thing that ever happened to her, she felt a hand touch her shoulder gently as a stern voice spoke her name.

Seconds passed as Max turned and stared at the hand, unblinking and too afraid to find out just who it was that the hand belonged to. Air around her was growing more and more tense as the second hand ticked away on the watch on his wrist.

"Max? Are you okay?" The man spoke again, causing Max's brain to latch upon the voice, as she suddenly realized who it was that was speaking.

"David...I can't breathe..." She cried between gasps, gazing back down at the floor.

He simply rubbed her shoulder reassuringly "it's okay Max, you're having a panic attack. The important thing is to concentrate on breathing. Here, let me take you to a quiet place."

Max hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. She wasn't comfortable with David taking her anywhere, as everything was sending Max into a fear spiral, but she knew somewhere inside of her that he would know what to do in situations like this. David lifted her up rather effortlessly, putting his arms behind her shoulders and her knees before taking her out of the middle of the hall, and into Principal Wells room.

It took Max half an hour of curling up into a small ball in the principal's chair for her to calm down. David sat there the entire time and watched her quietly, only leaving her side at one point to retrieve a soda from the machine outside for her, before returning and watching her diligently once again.

"Th-thank you David." Max finally said, breaking the silence between the two of them.

"It's no problem Max. I just know exactly what it's like to have panic attacks, and I knew Wells was out doing a conference with the superintendent right now, so I figured that here would be better and more soothing to calm down than the nurses office. Are you alright?"

Shifting in the large chair, Max sat herself upright and responded with a simple "yeah."

"Damn, I have to say, I was hoping that you wouldn't be having episodes like this, Max. But after what you saw, I'm honestly not surprised. Did anything trigger this?"

Her eyes lowered as she stared at the floor below her.

_'It's just like back in the Dark Room. If I tell him why I panicked, he may freak out, but David really does deserve to know...what do I say?'_

"I saw..." Max began as she blinked tears out of her eyes. "I saw Nathan Prescott enter my class earlier. I thought he would never be coming back here. I heard he was in an institution far away. When I saw him I just...I had flashbacks of that day in the bathroom. I just couldn't stop thinking."

A silence fell upon the room once more as David sat in his chair and let the words sink into him. "They brought him back here...and they didn't even tell me? They let that bastard that killed my step-daughter back in this place and they didn't even think of telling me?" His words were beginning to fill with anger, mimicking his reactions to hearing what had happened to Chloe last year in a different timeline. The only difference now, was Max knew that she had no way of rewinding time to undo this. This action was one she would have to live with.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-"

"No." David interrupted with a more calm voice. "It's okay. It's not your fault. I knew that he had ties and money, I guess I just misjudged how much. You know, they didn't televise his trial, but I kept up with it for every second that it went by." David was now pacing back and forth, letting his eyes try to concentrate on certain objects in the room, and keep his breathing normal to avoid having an episode himself. "Best goddamn lawyer that money could afford. He was out on a plea bargain of insanity before the trial ever began. Now that son of a bitch is back here. It's been less than half of his sentence. I guess money can speed up any process."

Max watched as David paced. Listening to every word and feeling a tinge of guilt with every word he spoke. ' _Would it have been better to just lie to him?'_

Turning his attention away from himself, David looked back at Max and rubbed his brow intensely. "Look, I'm sorry. I'll be alright. We both need to just get out of here, as soon as we can. I'm going to go back to the house, is there anywhere you can go Max? Anywhere where you would feel calm and safe? Anywhere there are happy memories?"

It was weird, but Max didn't even have to think very hard about that. The moment the words 'calm and safe' left his mouth, Max already had an idea of a place to go. A place that looks perfectly serene, with calming sounds of nature, and a place that held more than a few happy memories. It was the one place that stood out among this town, the staple of Arcadia Bay.

"Yeah..Do you think you could take me to the lighthouse?"

"For the best friend of Chloe, absolutely."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Hey yo, I had a lot of fun getting into this side of Max. I don't think that Max having hardcore PTSD is something I follow, so here is some mild for you, because as a character, you wouldn't just accept the fact that your bestfriend/love died and you could have done something, honestly. One of the many, many reasons I started this fic, tie up all the many loose ends of the game, and to make the ending of the game make other seasons possible. Because lets be real, if season 2 asks me to rewind ever and keeps the whole "time travel messes everything up". No thanks. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! Please follow and review! Don't forget to tune in next time! Sane Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.


	6. Chapter 6

A soft glow broke through the leaves of the trees and cascaded a gentle pattern on the dirt path below. With each step, Max could feel the sunlight gently warming her skin and sending her body into an almost serene state. The sounds of nature surrounded her and filled her with a sense of peace and tranquility. Letting the gentle sounds of life fill her ears, the young photographer lifted her head and shut her eyes as she walked. Sunlight glided over her shut eyelids, bringing a calming glow to her.

This was always a place that Max loved, a place that was synonymous with peace and happiness. Even though the walk to the lighthouse was a long trek from the beach, up the dirt path through the forest before finally getting to the top, it was something that she enjoyed every second of. It was like three different kinds of nature that all coexisted peacefully next to each other, yet had completely different vibes and sounds.

From the beach you could feel the sand between your toes, hear the gentle sounds of the waves as they crashed into each other with the flowing tide, see the smoothness of the yellow sand contrast with the ever changing blue that was the ocean. The path up to the lighthouse was a walk through a small forest, lined with large, beautiful, green trees everywhere in sight. As you wandered down the long path that slowly inclined to the peak, you could hear the sounds of animals scurrying around, insects calling to one another, birds singing in their nests; the sound of uninterrupted nature existing. Then there was the lighthouse itself. It was a place of almost complete peace. Every inch of the surrounding areas gave you something new to look at, however. In front of you would be the blue of the Bay as it led out smoothly into the sprawling ocean, behind you was the green forested area that you had just returned from still mildly humming with sounds of life, to your left was a birds eye view of the beach that really allowed your eyes to appreciate just how still and peaceful a beach can look, and to your right was the vastness of the sky above clashing in colors with the monolithic white lighthouse.

It was no wonder Max wanted to come here, and a tragedy that she had allowed the past to keep her from coming here. With every step Max took through the path upwards, she could feel her mind trying to slide back into the black and gray memories of the storm, but she wouldn't allow it to. Mind at peace and body relaxed, Max finally pressed her way up through the forest and onto the peak of the cliff.

Everything was still around her. The sun was beginning to fall into the setting corners of the sky and had just began to paint everything around her in a golden light, causing the flow to perfectly shimmer across the water below. It was a beautiful sight, almost too perfect to pass up on, so the young brunette pulled her new camera from her bag and stood off to the side, allowing the frame to center between the sun and it's glow on the Bay in the first third, and the lighthouse to encompass the entire last third of the image, with gorgeous blue water in between.

_'Oh my god. That was gorgeous if I do say so myself.'_

Max pulled the photograph out of the camera and shook it a bit before looking down upon it. The picture was slowly coming out of its gray state, slowly letting the vibrant colors encompass it's frame. Max looked down and smiled at her work, admiring the shot and composition, as well as the bright colors and beauty of nature. The longer she stared at it, however, the more that painful memories began to seep their way into her brain. Loud memories began to all sound at the same time in her head, echoing slightly as the words bounced around in her skull.

" _ **I feel like I took this shot a thousand years ago." "Chloe...I don't wanna do this!" "Don't say that! I won't trade you."**_

She shook her head hard, trying to shake out the painful memories and live in the now.

_'I can't live like that. I have to push forward. I have to try.'_

Sliding the photograph in her pocket, Max walked her way over to the bench at the end of the cliff and sat down, letting the feeling of the sun bathe her once more in an attempt to try to receive that peace she had felt on her way up the path.

" _ **You really took one for team Chloe." "You were here today, Max. You saved me! I'm still tripping on that." "After all these years, it feels like -" "Destiny? What if this is destiny?"**_

_'Come on Max...stop it. You can do this. You're stronger than that.'_

Her body was starting to become anxious. The feeling of serenity was quickly fading from her, as it was slowly being replaced by a relative of fear. Sitting in this seat was becoming more and more uncomfortable as she sat, so Max quickly rose to her feet and tried to gently pace herself.

_'Maybe movement helps. Maybe that's why I was so calm. Try to focus on your breathing, just like David told you to.'_

Concentrating on her breathing as hard as she could, with inhales through her nose and exhales out her mouth, Max paced next to the bench a little faster that she was before as the thoughts continued to bounce around in her head, growing slightly louder.

" _ **All it would take is for me to...to..." "Fuck that! You are my number one priority now.**_

_**You are all that matters to me."** _

"Shut up! Please!" Max called loudly to no one before softening to a mumble. "I can do this. I can do this. Just be strong, Max." Her footsteps had become much faster and a slight bit frantic as her emotions threatened to take complete control. Her eyes were beginning to sting and burn as her nose began to slightly run.

Max stopped her pacing and threw her hands down dramatically at her sides and threw her head back in frustration. The thought that she was once in control of time itself but yet couldn't get a hold on her own emotions was starting to grate on her nerves. Clenching her eyes tight, Max tried to take another step forward to try to pace out her anger, when her toe caught something solid. A wave of pain instantly surged its way up her leg, causing Max to swear aloud and grab her foot.

"What the fuck did I-" her voice was full of anger until she saw the thing that she had kicked. She must have paced all over, because right in front of Max stood a tree trunk. A tree trunk that she had remembered fondly. A tree trunk with her's and Chloe's name carved into it.

The memory flooded Max's mind as her knees gave out below her, causing her to kneel directly in front it.

" _ **Come on Captain Chloe, why did you drag me all the way out to the lighthouse?"**_

" _ **What kind of talk is that? A first mate is never supposed to question her Captain! If you don't watch that tongue of yours, I'll have ye swab the poop deck!"**_

" _ **Try me. I'll just kick your poop deck!."**_

" _ **Oh shut up, Max. Come here, it's time to leave a real mark on Arcadia Bay."**_

" _ **Ch-Chloe! Where did you get that knife?"**_

" _ **What good is a pirate without their sword?! Now stop panicking and get over here and start carving. Someday, when the two of us are super famous, people will come from all over to take pictures with this thing. You could even take some of the photos for them and charge money!"**_

" _ **Yeah, okay! Let's do it. Just promise me that you'll be there when I take all those pictures of people."**_

" _ **You kidding me? I'll be the one collecting the booty! Gotta have someone around to manage the super star photographer Maxine Caufield."**_

" _ **Stop calling me Maxine!"**_

_'Why Chloe? Why couldn't you just be selfish? Why couldn't you just let me live the rest of my life with you, happy for once?"_

Her fingers gently traced their names as she let her tears squeeze out of her eyes. Soft sobs escaped her as she shut her eyes as tightly as she could.

"I can't be strong. I can't! I keep trying and all it does is make it hurt worse. I can't keep living like this...I can't keep going on without you..."

Max opened her eyes slowly and rubbed her palm over the top of their names, thinking about how easy it would be.

_'I'm already on this cliff...I could just...walk off. I wouldn't have to do this anymore. I could just sleep forever. I would be with Chloe again, see William, meet Rachel...all it would take is for me to...to...'_

Her eyes blinked out tears once again as her brain considered what she was saying. The indications of those actions, the consequences of her actions.

"I can't do that!" Her voice was breaking from the volume as she rose to her feet. Her fists were clenched and her arms locked down at her side. She whipped around and opened her eyes, thinking about screaming at the top of her lungs just to let off some of her frustrations, to try to feel more like a human and less like a giant ball of thrashing emotions; when she saw something that made all of her hair raise on end, and threw her into a completely alert state.

"No..." was all she could say, as the world around her shifted from its once beautiful, peaceful state, back to the chaos and disorder that she had seen before. The monochrome, displacing, electric chaos that she had seen last night in her old photography class...only this time, there was a difference.

" _ **Max...it's time..."**_

This time, Max could clearly hear her voice surrounding her. It was the goodbye they shared, the last time they saw each other.

" _ **I know, Max. But we have to. We have to save everybody, okay?"**_

"Why is this happening? What is happening? Chloe?!" Her voice was filling with pain with each passing second.

" _ **And you'll make those fuckers pay for what they did to Rachel."**_

"Chloe can you hear me?!" She cried.

" _ **Being together this week...it was the best farewell gift I could've hoped for. You're my hero, Max."**_

"Chloe..." Her eyes were darting around, looking for something, anything to indicate what she was supposed to do. Everything around here was pure chaos, but there had to be one point of clarity, just like the classroom. One spot she could go to that would let her be there.

_'Anywhere...please!'_

" _ **I'll always love you...Now, get out of here, please! Do it before I freak."**_

Each goddamn syllable was tearing through her like sand paper studded with razor blades. Her heart was breaking with every single second. She could barely keep her knees from giving out.

" _ **And Max Caufield? Don't you forget about me..."**_

Almost on instinct, Max responded with a voice as soft as she could, with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. "Never."

As soon as the words left her lips, the spot suddenly became clear to her. Toward the edge of the cliff, just a few feet from where she were standing was the spot, where nothing was moving at all, the spot the universe and time needed her to be. Her legs carried her as fast as they possibly could over to the only spot that her eyes could even see at this moment. She knew exactly what was waiting for her on the other side of this.

It took her a few seconds to realize that she were even in another time, that everything had gone back to moving again, for the storm had blocked out almost all light, and everything around her seemed to have that gray look to it. Loud cries of agony from behind her quickly ripped her straight from her slight daze as the realization hit her.

She was here, and that was Chloe.

"Chloe..." Max said spinning around as the breath she was trying to take caught in her chest. She stood there for a second, her body unable to move.

"Chloe!" She screamed this time, as her legs suddenly gave her control again allowing her to sprint over to where Chloe was standing. Her arms instantly wrapped themselves around her neck and squeezed her as tightly as she could.

"Max?" Chloe said as she held her back and sniffled loudly. "What are you doing? You have to go. You have to save everyone."

But Max couldn't answer. She couldn't say anything. She had dreamed about seeing Chloe again, every single night since she abandoned her. Chloe was finally here, finally in her arms.

"Max!" Chloe yelled, with her voice slightly full of anger, causing Max to whip her head up and look Chloe straight in the eyes. "What the fuck gives? Why did you let me think you were going to let me die to change your mind? Why let me sit here and cry like that?!"

The words stung, she never imagined that their reunion would be like this. "Chloe, I didn't do this on purpose! I did leave. I went back and I watched you die in that fucking bathroom. I had to sit there and listen to you die. Again. And I couldn't even save you! It was so, so hard!" Max felt her eyes try to cry from sadness, but just being here with Chloe again was enough to quell that feeling entirely.

"Then wait...why are you back here Max? What happened?" The look of anger in her eyes subsided, and Chloe was now filled with more concern than hate.

"I...I went on. I went on for 6 whole months without you. I had to live, every single day knowing that you were dead. I had to go through 6 months, half of a year of heartbreak every day, Chloe. Knowing that I could have been with you. That we could have been so happy together. But we had to save everyone. I couldn't do it Chloe...I couldn't." Her eyes couldn't stop scanning every single inch of Chloe's face. She was only a mere foot away from the blue goddess, as she inched her way closer to the punk in front of her.

Letting her words sink in for a few seconds, Chloe looked back into Max's eyes and saw all the pain inside them. It was almost like looking directly into a mirror. "So you traveled back here? To undo leaving? But Max, what about-"

"No Chloe...I didn't. I don't know what's happening, but time seems to be collapsing or something. I don't understand it."

"What are you talking about?"

"I-I don't even know! It's like time just, stops moving somehow. I feel like time is trying to get me to fix everything. But it brought me here. I don't know why, but I think time wanted me to fix this. I think time wanted me to come back and save you."

Doing the only thing that made any sense to her at this point, Chloe wrapped her arms around Max's waist and pulled her in tightly, burying her head in her shoulder and squeezing as tightly as she could. It was only when she felt that Max wasn't hugging her back that she pulled away. "Max?" Chloe asked, looking down at her with concern filling her eyes. Without hesitation, Max raised her hand to Chloe's face and cupped it gently, stroking her face gently with her thumb.

"In case this doesn't last somehow...in case I'm not supposed to save you, I have to tell you something Chloe. Something I was too afraid to tell you. Chloe, I'm in love with you. I always have been. I just didn't realize it until I came back to you. You're everything to me. I can't live without you." Her eyes were once again welling up with tears, but for the first time in a very long time, these tears were tears of joy. "This week we shared, it was the best week of my life too." Her cheeks felt so hot, which was only magnified by how cold she realized she felt. Rain was pelting her as the wind around her was roaring, chilling her to the bone. It was a feeling she had forgotten about on this day.

Words could not form as Chloe stood there and gazed at the girl standing before her. Her mouth was hanging open as her entire body flushed. "Max" she finally spoke, after what felt like days of staring "you really mean it?" All Max could do was nod.

Reaching up, Chloe placed her hand on Max's and held it to her face before letting out a sad laugh. "Took you long enough, hippy." She said with a huge grin plastered across her face. "I already told you, I'll always love you. I guess I forgot to say that I always have."

The two of them just stood there for a moment and gazed at each other, their smiles on their faces lighting up their eyes. No matter how hard she tried, Max could not break her attention from Chloe's lips. She was staring at them, longing for them.

_'I may never get another chance.'_

Leaning forward and crashing her lips into Chloe as hard as she could, Max kissed the literal girl of her dreams. She kissed her with resolve, she kissed her with passion, she kissed her with love. It was the roughest, most passionate kiss of her life. Lips slid over each other, battling for dominance, pressing more and more into the kiss as each second passed. Max reached up and slide her fingers under Chloe's beanie, letting them dig around in the cold, wet, strands of blue as she pulled her closer, lusting for as much of Chloe as she could have.

Slowly, the world faded from both of them. Winds around them stopped roaring, the rain on their skin stopped pelting, they could no longer hear the sounds of the tornado ripping the town part as if it were made of paper. Time itself seemed to vanish from around them as the kiss deepened and became more intense. As far as either of them could tell, this kiss was the only thing in existence.

It wasn't until Max realized how long it had been since she had taken a breath that Max pulled away, gasping for air.

"Holy fuck Max, who taught you to kiss like that?" Chloe asked between pants.

Max smiled and playfully winked at Chloe "a true lady never kisses and tells, Chloe." Just like nothing had ever happened, Max was with the only person who made her feel whole again. She slid her hand back down to her cheek and gazed lovingly at the tall punk's smile, beaming in the sunlight.

Right then, Max noticed it. Sunlight.

"Holy shit! Chloe!" Reaching quickly inside her pocket, which was still completely soaked from the rain, Max lifted her phone up and flicked the screen on.

"What? What is it?" She couldn't help but to notice the smile on Max's face as she looked at her phone with delight.

"It's April...Chloe...It's April 8th!" The brunette girl said as she whipped around and looked over the cliff toward Arcadia Bay. "And it's still here..." she whispered, just loud enough for Chloe to hear.

"We...we did it." Chloe spoke softly as she stepped next to Max and interlaced her fingers around hers. "We saved them."

Max simply held Chloe's hand back as tightly as she could and smiled as she leaned her head onto the taller punk's and sighed happily as the sun next to them bathed them both in a warmth. A warmth that felt like a new beginning, as well as a wonderful ending.

"And I saved you." Max said as she rubbed the back of Chloe's thumb with her own with a smile on her face. It was the first time Max had ever smiled like that. Somewhere, something inside Max told her that this wasn't over; that it was in fact, only the beginning. But the rest of Max didn't care at all. Right now, she was here, with Chloe, spending time with her and feeling happy.

Finally.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Hey yo, so, here we are. The end of Episode 1, Little Pieces of Time, called so because of the little pieces that Max can interact with as timelines attempt to merge together. I am not gonna lie, I cried writing this. It felt so good to reunite them, and it was so heartbreaking to write the Sacrifice Chloe dialog. It was really something for me to make this, I put everything I have into this. But this, this is just the beginning. What really caused the storm? Who was Jefferson talking on the phone with in Episode 2 of Season 1? Why did Nathan try to steal Tobonga? All of these questions, and many more, will be coming. Please, I urge you, if you liked this, follow me as a writer, because Episode 2 will be a separate entry all together. So if you'd like to see more, follow me into the next episode my friends! Because I have such a wonderful story to tell you. Don't be shy to message me if you'd like to talk about anything at all! Thank you all so very much for reading, I'll see you in the next episode.
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.


	7. Chapter 7

**April 7** **th** **, 2014**

**New life, new entry. It's really weird that after some horrible time shit starts happening is the moment when I feel like I need to be keeping up with this better. Hopefully, I will never have to be the 12** **th** **Doctor ever again. When that happens, knowing my track record, I hope you won't miss me too much Mr. Journal.**

**Today was a horrible day though. One of the worst I think I've ever had. It started off pretty shitty with me being late for classes, but I honestly couldn't give any less of a hoot. After nearly dying of boredom in all my classes, I had to prepare myself for going and doing the one thing I do every single 7** **th** **of the month, visit my dead best friend. Wowsers, sounds like some horrible teenage drama movie with adults acting like teens with really bad lingo. But what am I talking about? I just used the word 'lingo'. Barf.**

**The strangest thing happened when I was there though. I saw that blue butterfly I saw that day that Chloe got shot. But this time...this time it was different. I think somehow Chloe WAS the butterfly! I can hear 'They're Coming to Take Me Away' playing already.**

**But after getting knocked to the ground by Trevor outside of school – who I honestly can barely see why I had a crush on him ever – I went back to my dorm and saw Kate again for a while. Sweet, wonderful Kate. Then Victoria showed up and gave me so much film that I don't know the next time I'll ever need any.**

**After all that, I decided that it was time to start using the camera that Chloe gave me again. Well, I guess she never gave it to me in this timeline, but whatever, ish mine now. But then I saw that classically old photo of Chloe and I as pirates. That was like a trip down depressed lane. As soon as I got done freaking out though, time had stopped completely, again. It's like the flow of time is an old box TV, and I'm a really powerful magnet. Which means if I get near it, everything is going to pretty much be fucked up.**

**After looking around, I found that everything around the school was ripping in and out of reality or something. It was like a previous timeline was trying to crash down into this one somehow. But when I made my way into the belly of the beast, it was chaotic in there. Everything felt electric in that room, it was almost as if it didn't exist somehow.**

**But the moment I touched my old desk, the worst thing fucking ever happened. I got sent back into the timeline where Chloe was in a wheelchair, and I had to talk to...HIM again. It's like Harry Potter in this book, we do not speak his name.**

**But, I totally fucking got him. I used the whole Fight Club trick and made it look like he beat the shit out of me. Well, maybe not that bad. But I did do something like that, then I told the principal about The Dark Room before I left. I can say without a doubt, that is exactly what I needed in my life. I beat him HIM. Fuck HIM. He knows who he is.**

**After I got back though, I had blood all over me. I guess that put my body through more than just the regular time travel. Hell, it did way more than the photo's ever did, and that was some crazy enough shit right there. So I had to make my way back – in the freezing cold winds – to my room to try and sleep it off. And sleep it off I did.**

**April 8** **th**

**It was actually nice waking up this morning. It felt good to actually wake up and have a purpose again. I decided that I was going to do photography if it kills me. I hope to dog it doesn't though.**

**After showering and getting my 'battle armor' on and ready for the day, I made my way into the halls and saw Kate's door wide open. And I'm no vampire, so I didn't really need to be invited inside. She was sitting in the light and playing her violin and OMG. This must have been the reason that I decided to start bringing that camera around with me again. That was an amazing shot. Even Kate thought it was 'wonderfully charming'. So I would say it's got to be at least a 9/10 on the I can take pictures scale.**

**I finally saw Victoria in the hall and thanked her for her gift. She of course didn't accept my thanks, saying it was 'charity'. But I know Victoria, she's just trying to hide the fact that shes human underneath all that snark.**

**Then, unfortunately, classes started. I almost have nothing to say about classes, like at all. But there is one saving grace honestly. In one of my classes, I get to sit next to both Dana AND Juliet. So I get to hear them argue and talk to each other all class long. It really is weird to see how similar their friendship was to mine and Chloe's. Just without all the dork-y references.**

**After hanging with Dana and Jules, I had to go to my least favorite class in the history of anything. Math. Seriously, I hate math so much that if I could, I would never use it again. Thank god for me though, Warren started texting me for a bit, before I got caught texting. So I at least had some kind of entertainment in there. Even though it was brief.**

**But then, the worst possible thing happened. Nathan fucking Prescott walked into the room. It was almost like I could hear the shot ringing again through my ears. I had to get out of there. Everything felt like it was on fire as I ran to the main hall. That's where I saw the girls bathroom from before, and then everything got all...swirly. I couldn't stand anymore. I fell to the ground and I swear to dog I thought I was going to go insane.**

**David then came and took me to Principal Wells' office and let me finish freaking out so hard that I was sure that my lungs were going to explode. Thankfully for me, they didn't. That's when David asked me why I freaked out.**

**I really didn't want to tell him, but something inside me told me that I had to. He deserves to know doesn't he? Once I told him, he seemed to be physically shaken. He told me he needed to leave the school and suggested I do the same. He asked me if I had a safe, quiet place to go to, and the only place that ever felt safe and quiet to me was the lighthouse; so that's where I went.**

**The walk up to the lighthouse is always the best thing about it honestly. It was so serene and peaceful. It was exactly what I needed to help calm me down. I love the fact that I have to go from the beach, through a forest, just to get there. It was so quiet and just pretty everywhere. It felt like everything was going to be okay. Something I desperately needed.**

**Once I got to the top, I saw one of the most gorgeous shots that I have ever seen in my life, so I knew that I had to take it. I knew all about the golden hour (I mean, I did pay attention occasionally in his class) but jeez, this was uhh-mazing. But the moment I started admiring the photo in my hands, I started to flashback to the butterfly photo. Which was the one thing I came to this lighthouse to forget.**

**It was like no matter how hard I tried, the freaking universe was just hounding on me to think back to that day. Everything I did seemed to throw me down a spiral back into that day. Then of course, I saw it. The tree trunk Chloe and I had carved our names into back in 2008. I had to accept the fact that no matter how hard I tried, I was never going to forget Chloe.**

**For a brief bit...I actually considered walking off the cliff...I just found it so hard to go through life without her. When I turned around to try and scream my lungs out, that's when I saw something horrible. Time was doing that thing again, where everything is black and white and jittery. It was just like it was in the photography class, but this time was so much worse. I could hear Chloe's voice as clear as day, telling me to be brave and sacrifice her. It was so hard to go through again, almost harder than the first time I had to.**

**Right after she told me goodbye all over again as my heart shattered into a zillion pieces, I finally saw that one spot that I had been looking for. The one spot where everything wasn't going completely crazy. I ran over to it, and that's when I heard her.**

**This must have been what it is like to see water after spending days in a desert. Chloe was my oasis at that very moment, and I did the only thing I knew how to do, I hugged the shit out of her.**

**She wasn't too happy with me at first. She thought that I never left, that I just said goodbye and decided 'fuck it'. Which honestly, I almost did the first time. I came so close to just...ripping that butterfly up and running into her arms. But after I told her that time was being crazier than usual, she finally seemed to calm down some. That's when I did something that I had been dreaming of for half of a year, I told Chloe that I was in love with her. To my surprise, Chloe told me, in her own horribly dorky way, that she was in love with me too.**

**As if everything couldn't get any better, I then got to do the other thing I dreamed about. I got to kiss Chloe again. Hard. It was so...I don't even want to write down how it made me feel. Let's just say that Chloe and rain had something in common. Shutting up. My god that was gross to write.**

**But then, I noticed something in her shining, beautiful eyes (okay Max, stop flirting with her, she can't see this) I saw sunlight. That's when I turned on my phone and saw that we were both back, together in my timeline. Both of us ready to conquer the world, together.**

**I don't know what happened with timelines, but Chloe's truck was parked down at the beach waiting for us. The one that had been sitting in Joyce's garage, untouched for months. We rode back to my dorm and spent literally the rest of the day together.**

**I told her about all of the boring, normal shit that had been happening over the past few months, leaving out how horrible I felt without her for obvious reasons. But it was like no time had ever passed between us. We were back to joking with each other and everything, just like we always have. I wanted to concentrate on her telling me as much as she wanted to, so I decided to hold out on some things I wanted to ask her that night, but that's all gravy because I know the time will come.**

**The two of us then spent what felt like several hours just cuddling and looking at each other on my bed. It was so gorgeously romantic that if I told anyone about it, they would probably vomit. But just know that she really does make me feel something I have never felt before about anyone else, and I don't ever want to feel about anyone else ever again.**

**Best fucking night of my life. I was so happy just to have her back that I didn't fall asleep until after she did, somewhere around 3 or 4 am. Even though I was honestly pretty tired around 12. But Chloe comes first. She always will.**

**April 9** **th**

**I must say, waking up next to the girl you love will always be the best part of waking up. Folgers has no idea what they're talking about. I think I must have spent a whole hour just watching Chloe sleep, which I must admit, is pretty creepy. But it's not like I meant to admire just how freaking hot she was for that long, it just happened. After watching her sleep for the longest freaking time, I decided that I better shower and do something, least I be scolded for being a creeper. Which I totally was.**

**I have no idea what time it honestly was when I woke up, but I didn't care either. The halls were really quiet and empty, so I figured that it must have been somewhere around midday. After showering a really quick shower – so I didn't freak Chloe out by being gone when she woke up – I quickly changed into one of my pajama shirts that I was given by Joyce last year. I used to wear them to sleep in to feel closer to Chloe, but now I'm just going to use it as a conversation piece.**

**When I got back into my room, I thought I had fucked up somehow. Chloe was sitting on my couch, lightly crying. Way to go, Max. But when I got closer to her, I saw that she was looking in that shoe box that I had kept from her room. After a minute of her composing herself, she just hugged me and told me how much she had missed me while I was gone. Ironic that now I know exactly what that's like isn't it?**

**All I could think to do was just hold her on the couch for a while. Chloe told me about how far down she fell without me there. How alone and how awful she felt...that for years, she didn't have any friends at all. I didn't know what to say, so I just reminded her that I know what it's like to not have the one person you wish you could have more than anything, so I promised that I would never ever leave her again.**

**After a long sesh of holding her until she stopped crying, we cuddled on my couch for a little while and just enjoyed each others company. Which was amazeballs. Hella amazeballs. It was like I was closer to her than ever before after that. I just felt this bond between us that wasn't even there before. I knew then and there that this was only the beginning of something beautiful.**

**I must have accidentally fallen back asleep or something, because I woke back up to a bright flash, followed by that all too familiar hum of film being developed. That fucking brat had taken a picture of me. She held that stupid picture over her head to keep me from grabbing it. She kept taunting me for being short, holding the picture higher and higher as she did. I struggled and struggled to grab it, until I flat out kissed her nice and delicately. That got her to drop her guard and let me grab the picture. See Chloe? Two people can play that game.**

**The shot itself was not that bad though. I mean, I didn't look too bad in it, and I was pretty centered, with light flowing down on me from the blinds next to me, causing me to look mysterious but yet still kind of angelic, the light made me almost glow and the colors from the wall behind me really popped for some reason and...okay, it was a really good shot. But I will never tell her I said that.**

**She pinned me on the couch after that, and after quite the steamy make out, she noticed my guitar, which I had kind of forgotten to mention I knew how to play. She instantly ordered that I 'serenade your girlfriend right now, Max!' Something that I think would have bothered me if anyone else would have said, but I didn't mind it at all for some reason.**

**I'm honestly not the best guitar player in the world, I will admit that, but Chloe seemed so happy watching me play for her. She didn't even make fun of the music for not being punky or thrashy or anything, which made me unbelievably happy. I felt like I was talented at something for a change just watching the look on her face. I had seen people in Seattle admire me before, but never the way she was looking at me. It was so warm and wonderful and...she's already turning me into a sap.**

**Chloe then insisted that I teach her some lessons soon, which I would love to do. We could start a nice little band together and travel the world playing music and sharing our love with everyone. A girl can dream. Chloe would probably prefer we were in some hardcore stuff that people could mosh to, and share some anger with the world. As long as she's there, I'd be game for anything.**

**As if the world couldn't just leave us be for one day, I eventually got a knock on the door once the sun had begun to set. We really did spend a good chunk of the day doing nothing, but it's not like we didn't deserve it! Me for that week in a timeline that didn't exist and half a year of pining over Chloe, and Chloe for that week and five years of pining over me!**

**After opening the door I saw it was Warren giving me all of my work that I had missed for the day. The gift that keeps on giving, homework. He asked to come in to talk to me about why I didn't go to class, but I told him that I wasn't feeling up to company. I felt almost bad, but I didn't really want to spend any time feeling awkward around someone when I could be being happy around Chloe instead. I deserve at least one damn day off!**

**I knew that Chloe wouldn't just let that go though. She started playing 20 questions with me on Warren. I knew she never really liked him because she saw him as a threat, but this was stupid. After explaining to her like a thousand times that we were never a thing, she finally calmed down and hugged me, saying she was sorry for freaking out on me. I swear, she makes it hard to stay mad at her sometimes. It's kind of weird how easily I feel we slipped into this dating vibe. It's like our friendship evolved into something else. I kind of felt like this was a moment where Chloe really needed to 'self medicate', but she wasn't leaving my side for the rest of the day. Nope. Not happening. She would just have to deal with being sober around me for a while.**

**Afterwards, Chloe and I decided to end the day by watching movies until we couldn't stay awake any longer. I only had one rule, no Blade Runner. To which Chloe agreed to, but asked why, and I honestly didn't see much of a reason to not be completely honest with her. So, we began to talk about alternate Chloe, in detail. I told her about what would have happened if William had lived, the memories that they had shared, the way we were to each other, the accident...all of it. Once I had come to the end of it, I noticed that the more I had talked, the more I was shaking, fighting off the urge to cry. Chloe then did something that I'm so glad she did, something that if I wasn't already sure I loved her, would have assured me. She held me and rubbed my back softly until I stopped shaking. All she had to do was just be there, and I felt better. If that isn't love, I don't want to know what is.**

**We decided to skip the movies at that point and go straight to bed, where I remember just holding Chloe and staring at her gorgeous face until I fell asleep.**

**Can you make some syrup from all that sap? Jeez.**

_**Maxine Caufield. You are the fucking sweetest thing. I cant fucking believe you just wrote so much amazing things about me. You seriously might give me some kind of cavity if you don't watch it. You better tell me all of this in person as soon as you read this, or I'll find you. I know where you sleep yo.** _

_**But seriously, that was the nicest things anyone has ever said about me. It was hella fucking beautiful. I love you.** _

_**PS. Why didn't you tell me I'm a good photographer? Scared of some competition Caufield?!** _

_**PPS. You're hella fucking adorable.** _

_**PPPS. I read the one from yesterday too Maximus. Even the rain part.** _

_**A bunch of fucking P's and then an S. I love you. Just reminding you.** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Hey yo, I know I said I was done with this, but I suddenly got a really neat idea! Journal entries for the end of the episodes, just in case you were like me and loved to read her thoughts during the game. That and this is a great way to give you guys cool and cute little fluff! Because I know how hardcore this can become. So, Enjoy!
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Hello there everyone, glad to see you read my story! Thank you for that. So, where to begin. I know that was horribly sad, I promise it wont always be that way. There will be PriceField in this. But, honestly, I am treating this story with the utmost seriousness. In my eyes, this will be what the sequel to Life is Strange should be. That being said, it will sting, it will hurt, but it will be lovely, I promise. I won't promise it will be as good as the official game, but I am striving to make it so. So please strap in, because I have quite the story to tell you.
> 
> I'm adding this to AO3 after a long time of only being on FF, so just in case some of you lovely people don't go there, you can read it all here!
> 
> Until next time, stay golden.


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